Minor Setback
by FrostEnd
Summary: Things never go as planned. Saya dies during the church fire, leaving Terumi and Relius to improvise, leaving Jin behind to die. Surviving with the help of Rachel and Jubei, Jin sets off on a mission to take revenge on Terumi, and Jin will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
1. Prologue

Jin's eyes opened up wide, the young boy snapping awake from a pleasant dream. It took his eyes a bit to get adjusted, but what he saw shocked him. Crimson flames shot up from the walls of his room, burning everything in its path. Instantaneous realization of what was happening hit Jin like a speeding truck. The church was burning down.

He didn't know what could possibly have started this. All he knew was he had to get out of here, quickly.

"Brother!" he instinctively called out. He knew that his brother would come any second to save him from whatever was happening. Jin waited anxiously for a few minutes, and decided to try again after getting no response.

"Brother, where are you! Help me!" Jin yelled. The smoke from the flames began to be too much for Jin. There was no time to wait around for Ragna. For some reason, the other boy wasn't coming for him. Jin grabbed everything that he wanted to savor and ran out of his room, sprinting for the stairs.

"Brother...?" a voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned around and saw Saya staring at him, a frightened expression on her face. She didn't look like she knew what was going on. She looked completely out of the loop, just like him.

Jin looked up above Saya and saw a piece of the ceiling crack, making a loud snapping noise. He bolted for Saya at that very instant and grabbed her by the arm, yanking her away much to her surprise. Saya looked behind her to see a large chunk of wood fall down, right where she was standing. She gasped in horror, realizing that if Jin hadn't grabbed her in time, she could have been crushed by it.

Jin led her down the stairs and made a mad dash towards the door, lunging at the handle and throwing it open, seeing even more flames outside.

"Brother! Where's brother, Saya?" Jin asked in a panic. Saya didn't seem to be paying attention, not responding to his question. Jin growled in anger, not in the mood for Saya's games. He understood that the girl had fallen ill recently, but in a situation like this there was no time for her to show weakness. "Dammit, you useless girl! Where is brother!? Listen to me when I'm talking to you!"

Saya didn't respond again, rather opting to tap her brother's shoulder and point to the left. Jin rolled his eyes and looked over to where she was pointing, wanting to see if it was more important than finding Ragna and escaping. He was also beginning to wonder where their caretaker was as well. She surely wouldn't have let this happen, would she?

As Jin's eyes shift to the left, he notices a tall man in a suit. He seemed to be staring at the ground, motionless. Jin didn't know for sure, but there was something wrong about this man. Something seemed very off about him.

"Who are you?" Jin asked, hoping that the man would realize that he was there and would give him an answer. He seemed to be in a daze as well. It took a few seconds for the man to respond to Jin's question, but when he did, a large smile grew across his face. Large enough to put fear into Jin's heart.

"Ah... it seems as though you two have arrived. I've been waiting for you!" the man in the suit exclaimed. The response came as a surprise to Jin. This man had been waiting for them? What for? He didn't know who this man was! Before Jin could respond, the man walked up to the two of them. He knelt down to the ground and cupped Saya's chin, raising her head up to look at him in the eyes.

"Aren't you just the cutest little thing?" he asked eerily. "You're perfect for it..."

Saya couldn't move a muscle in her body. She was paralyzed in fear. In fear of the man who knelt down before her. In fear of what she had seen on the ground in front of him.

"What's wrong, girl? Are you wondering about what I was staring at?" the man asked. Saya nodded her head slowly, pointing to the ground where he was standing. The flames around them seemed to be nonexistent in the situation at hand. Jin looked to where she was pointing as well.

"Oh? You're worried about that, aren't you? You're worried about that sweet little woman that was taking care of you, right? Oh, don't worry. She's merely sleeping. Merely sleeping, that's all," he explained, with a chuckle that told Jin that their caretaker really wasn't sleeping. It didn't take long for Jin to put two and two together. This man had killed their caretaker.

"You!" Jin yelled, running up to the man to punch him in the face. His fist connected, but he didn't feel like he had done anything to the man at all. In fact, it felt as though he had punched a brick wall.

"Oh, you're a feisty one aren't you? That's just wonderful. Splendid!"

Before Jin knew it, a knee had slammed into his stomach. He cried out in pain, clutching where the mysterious man had kneed him. Saya's eyes widened as she saw Jin fall to the floor.

"Jin!" she yelled.

"Oh, there's no need to worry about him, girl! You're coming with me, whether you like it or not," the man said. He lifted her up off of the ground and began to walk away, holding her bridal style.

"Hold it right there you scumbag!" another voice cried out.

Jin weakly rose his head up from the ground to see his brother finally come to save the day. Jin smiled, knowing that his big brother would beat the evil man.

"Oh, it's you! I honestly almost forgot that you existed, little Raggy! I got so caught up in what I was doing that I just couldn't help myself! I hope you don't mind, but I had sent your little brother out of commission. You can find him there on the floor, probably crying his eyes out like the little shit he is. Oh, your sister is here too. I'm taking her with me if you don't mind. I have some swell plans for her," the mysterious man's personality took on an entirely different tone. He seemed a though he had gone mad now, instead of the creepiness that he showed Jin before.

"You bastard! I won't forgive you for this!" Ragna yelled, charging towards the man. He gently placed Saya down on the ground, as if he didn't want to hurt her, and opened his arms wide for Ragna.

"Come now! We wouldn't want to hurt a precious angel like this, would we?" the man asked. Ragna didn't listen to a word that he said, opting to attempt to punch him in the face. The attack was easily dodged, and the man pulled out a knife. He quickly grabbed the arm Ragna used to punch him with to restrain him, and then stabbed his stomach with the blade. Ragna screamed in pain and fell to the floor with a whimper.

"Aww... now that wasn't fun, Raggy! I expected a lot more from you!" the man exclaimed. "Ahahaha! I think it's time for me to go now! You know, duty calls and all that!" The man, Saya in hand, turned to walk away.

"Wait! Who are you!?" Jin yelled after him. The man stopped walking, and laughed.

"I'm Yuki Terumi. We should play around like this some other time. What do you say, Jin?"

Jin couldn't find it in him to stay awake after the man had announced who he was. What happened next, to Jin, was all a blur.

* * *

"What? What do you mean it didn't work!?"

"It seems as though she had died in the process... I suppose she was too weak to handle the strain..."

"Well? What do we do now!?"

"Simple. We take this one as backup. We need only a figurehead, after all."

"Oh, I see... that's a good idea. I'm sure that with some... convincing... we could definitely use him to our own advantage..."

"What of the other boy, then?"

"Who cares? He'll just burn to death in the flames anyway! It's not like he really matters in the grand scheme of things. You know, sometimes you just think way too much."

"Any plan is better than no plan, no? It matters not, however. The boy will die in the flames."

...

"Oh, you poor, unfortunate soul... Whatever shall we do?"

"He looks really screwed up! What the heck even happened here!?"

"My my... it seems as though quite the conflict arose..."

"Shut it, you two. We will take the girl and the boy away from here, and leave them be. I wish to see what the boy will decide to do when he awakens. I'll go and pay a visit to Jubei as well, and tell him to watch over the boy."

* * *

Jin's eyes managed to open themselves, revealing a clear blue sky to him. He immediately covered his eyes soon afterwards. The sun's rays were blasting him in the face. As his eyes got adjusted to the light, Jin attempted to get up from his position on the ground. His memory of last night was a daze. He hardly remembered anything that had happened.

Jin struggled to his feet and then took a look around, strictly looking for the church. He couldn't see it in the grassy plain. The church was gone.

"Oh, no..." Jin let out. He figured that the church had either been burned to ashes and it was no more, or he had been moved from the scene of the fire.

His mind immediately snapped to Saya and Ragna. Were the two of them okay? Jin frantically searched the ground near him for his two siblings. If he was able to find just one of them...

His eyes shifted to the small body that was laying on its stomach on the ground. Jin felt a pang deep in his chest as he slowly approached the body. A worried look spread across his face as he began to recognize who it was. Saya.

"Saya...?" he tapped her shoulder. No response. With more force this time, he tapped her shoulder and repeated her name. There was still no response. Jin decided that he wasn't going to play this game forever, and he spun her around so that he could see her face. Her eyes were shut. A sense of dread quickly filled Jin. Though it was not uncommon for Saya to be like this due to her illness, this time, it felt like it was more than that.

He tried to remember what their caretaker would do in a situation like this. Whenever Saya would collapse, Ragna would run and get the caretaker. There was a certain process that she did, but Jin couldn't remember it at all. His memory was still a haze.

Instinctively, he lowered his head down onto her chest. Normally when he would rest his head against the nun's, he would feel it rise and fall. Jin couldn't feel that rising and falling from Saya. The girl wasn't breathing. It didn't take Jin more than a second to realize what happened.

Saya had died.

Jin fell to his knees.

In his mind, he found it funny that he was acting like this. Mourning over the death of someone that he despised. Though, he figured his hatred towards her was childish and immature. Now that the realization of her death hit him, most similar to the knee that he took last night, he only now realized what exactly he had lost.

Tears started to form in his eyes, blurring his vision. Jin didn't bother wiping them away.

"Saya... I'm sorry..." he said. "I'm so sorry for everything that I had done to you..."

Jin was quick to realize that there was no use in crying at this point. His tears would not bring Saya back to him. Soon, the events of last night came back to him in a flash. He could finally see the events that transpired in his mind. The man in the black suit... the burning church... Saya's limp body... the corpse of the nun... Ragna getting stabbed. He was surely dead as well. There was no use in looking for him.

With newfound resolve, Jin stood up, balling his fists.

"You bastard..." Jin spoke as if the man was right there next to him. "You will pay for this."

However, Jin didn't even know where to begin. He spoke as if he had a direction to head towards. As if a massive arrow in the sky was pointing his location out for him. None of those existed in his mind. He had no direction. There was nowhere for him to go.

Jin decided that his best bet was to start walking, and wherever he wound up, he wound up. He needed more power, but he didn't know where to start to go and get it.

"Now now, son. That ain't no way to be," a gruff, old voice said. Jin turned around slowly to see a small cat walk up to him. The cat wore a yellow hood that covered his face, and he had a small sword on his back. His right arm was positioned in such a way that he would be able to reach for the sword without any problems. He seemed to be ready for anything.

"Who are you?" Jin asked, wondering how this stranger even found him.

"I'll tell ya, if you tell me yours first," the cat said.

"My name is... Jin," Jin said.

"Just Jin, eh?" the cat asked. It seemed like he knew better, however. Almost as if he had met the boy before. It unnerved Jin. "Well, my name is Jubei."

The name resonated with Jin, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where he heard it before.

While he thought to himself, Jubei took a good look at Jin.

'The kid's grown up from when I last saw him... Time really does fly, eh?' Jubei thought to himself.

"I heard what you said, kiddo. Somethin' real terrible happened to ya, it looks like. You alright?" Jubei asked. Jin shook his head, thinking about the tragic events of last night. The man who attacked him... he wanted nothing more than to rip him to shreds. But... he couldn't, for the life of him, remember his name. "Hey, if you don't wanna talk about it you don't have to."

Once again, it felt like the man-cat-thing knew better. Like he knew the situation. Like he was there with them at the scene of the fire.

"...My sister... Saya..." Jin began, sniffling between his words. He let a few more out before taking a deep breath, continuing with his explanation. "Last night an evil man came and burnt the church down and he attacked me and Saya and I tried to defend her from him but he knee'd me in the stomach and I fell to the ground and he picked up Saya and Ragna came to save us and Ragna got stabbed and I passed out and when I woke up in the morning I looked for Saya and Ragna and I found Saya but Ragna wasn't there and when I went to go wake Saya up she was dead!"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down there kiddo, I could barely understand a word you said!" Jubei exclaimed. "Do you wanna try explaining that to an old man one more time, just a little bit slower?"

Jin nodded his head, wiping some tears from his eyes before opening his mouth to speak.

"Last night... someone in a black suit came and he set fire to the church. I ran outside immediately and started to look for my brother and sister. My sister, Saya, ran over to me from her room and I led her downstairs and outside. I started to look around for Ragna, hoping that he was outside as well, but the man that had set fire to the church came and attacked the both of us. I was dealt with easily, and he took Saya from me. I... I had wondered where the nun that was taking care of us went, and he pointed out that he had killed her... He showed us her dead body. There were cuts all over the place. It looked terrible... After that, Ragna had run in from the left and attacked him. But the man had laughed at him, like he had known Ragna, and grabbed him by the arm. He lifted him up into the air and stabbed him in the stomach, throwing him away. I passed out then..." Jin explained.

"This man that you're talking about... did he say what his name was?" Jubei asked.

"That's the thing... I... I don't remember..." Jin looked back down to the ground.

"Well, do ya remember what he looked like? Apart from the black suit," Jubei said.

"...The only thing that I remember clearly was that he had green hair," Jin replied, putting his finger on his chin.

"Green hair, huh?" Jubei tilted his head. "Well, that doesn't give me much to work with. I don't know too many people with green hair... except for one..."

Just thinking about that man sent a shiver down Jubei's spine. He looked back up to Jin, who was giving him an odd look. Jubei didn't notice the angered expression that was gracing his features.

"Who are you talking about?" Jin inquired.

"I'm talking about the man known as Yuki Terumi," Jubei began. "Ya probably don't know him, but he's a real-"

The rest of Jubei's words were tuned out by Jin. Hearing that name sent flashbacks of yesterday flowing through his mind. It was like Jin was reliving every single second of that moment. In that instant, Jin remembered everything. He remembered the final words that the man spoke to him.

 _"I'm Yuki Terumi. We should play around like this some other time. What do you say, Jin?"_

"That's his name!" Jin cried out. "He told me that his name was Yuki Terumi before he left!"

Jubei didn't look happy at all. It seemed like Terumi was up to something yet again. He just didn't know what. Jubei knew that Terumi was a snake. There was something going on behind the scenes that he doesn't know about.

'So that bastard is on the move... This isn't a good sign,' Jubei thought. He noticed the look that Jin was giving him, one not unlike how he looked at him before, and Jubei shook his head, dismissing his thoughts.

"Are you absolutely certain that he called himself "Yuki Terumi"?" asked Jubei, not wanting to make any rash decisions. He silently hoped to himself that he was mishearing the child in front of him. Something deep in his heart, however, was telling him that the boy was telling the truth.

"Yes, I'm sure of it!" Jin exclaimed. "Jubei, please! If you know where he is then tell me!"

"Yuki Terumi ain't no ordinary man, Jin. If you go against him as you are right now you're gonna be joining your sister in the afterlife," Jubei warned. "No, you need to get ready first if you want to go up against him."

"I'll do anything... anything..." Jin got onto his knees, tears flooding his vision. He would do anything to kill Terumi. He wanted to see that man pay for what he has done. He wanted to be the one that delivered retribution, not anyone else.

"If you'll do anything, then how about this? I'll train you personally. It ain't no bother to me. I got nowhere to go, and nowhere to be," Jubei said, almost sorrowful.

"You'll train me?" Jin repeated. The thought of being taken in by a cat to learn how to fight was surreal. A fighting cat? Where has anyone heard of that before? Only in stories about the legendary Six Heroes did Jin hear about that.

Jin froze.

He gazed at Jubei wide eyed. There was no possible way. He couldn't be.

"What's wrong, kid? You're lookin' at me kinda funny," Jubei chuckled nervously.

"You're Jubei of the Six Heroes!" Jin exclaimed.

"In the flesh," Jubei nodded. "Now then, let's get started right away."

As Jin began to walk with the cat, he started to think about his siblings. Saya was dead, that's for sure, but could Ragna be alive somewhere? Could Terumi have taken Ragna somewhere with him? Jin didn't know for sure. He hoped that at least one of his siblings was alive, deep in his heart. He didn't want to leave Ragna like he did Saya. He didn't want to never get the chance to tell Ragna how he really felt about him, like he never got the chance to for Saya.

He felt like smacking himself. She had given him so much, and he had given back so little. She had still loved him, even after all he had done to her. Jin couldn't say that he didn't love her back, but he could never show it on the outside, so instead he put up a cold demeanor, and began to hate her for the pettiest of reasons.

Jin decided he wouldn't let her death be in vain.

Suddenly, a cold mist started to form around his hands. Jin looked down at them wide eyed, wondering what was going on. Jubei turned around the moment he stopped hearing Jin's footfalls on the grass. He stared at Jin's hand in awe, in an almost knowing way. Like he knew what was forming around Jin's hand.

The mist started to converge into one, solid object that placed itself in Jin's hand. It was a katana. A lengthy one, at that, covered in a blue sheathe. Taking a look at it, he remembered what it was. It was the gift that Saya had given him.

He had never unsheathed it.

Playing around with it in his hands, he noticed that it felt as light as a feather. Like there was nothing inside of the sheathe. Deciding to test it out, Jin tried to pull out the sword. No matter how hard he tried, however, he couldn't pull it out of its sheathe.

"Now, where did you go and get that?" Jubei asked incredulously.

"This is... this is what Saya had given me for my birthday..." Jin responded shakily. He laughed, though it wasn't happy, or sad. It was empty. "Even in death, you still come to my side to support me... don't you, Saya?"

"Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa..." Jubei stated.

"Huh?" Jin looked to Jubei, stopping his attempts to unsheathe the sword.

"The name of that blade you got in your hands there," Jubei said, pointing to the weapon with his paw. "That right there is what's known as a Nox Nyctores. It's a weapon that uses the seithr that's all around you, even as we speak. Kid, what you got in your hands there is a dangerous weapon."

"Nox Nyctores? Seithr? What are you talking about?" Jin asked, completely confused by what the cat was saying.

"Seithr is the stuff all around us thanks to the Black Beast, son. It's what a lot of things in this world use to function. It normally has an adverse effect on humans like you, but society found a way to harness it and use it for its own personal gain," Jubei explained. "And I already told you what a Nox Nyctores was. You don't need to ask twice. Pay attention when an old man's talkin, will ya? Anyway, we should get to training. Time's of the essence as they say, right?"

Jin nodded, and followed Jubei into the woods that he came out of, ready to put an end to Terumi. He didn't care how long it took. He would make that man pay.


	2. The Birth of the Reaper

"Jin, I got something fer ya," Jubei turned to the now young man. Years have passed by training with Jubei, harnessing the power of Yukianesa and seithr. Today was the final day. The day that Jin would complete his training and set forth on the path to defeat Yuki Terumi at all cost. Jubei took him to the ruins of the church that was burned down long ago by Terumi. The final location for his training, Jubei had said. The cat rubbed the back of his head for a moment and added, "Well, I myself don't, but Rachel does."

Rachel Alucard. Jin sneered at the thought of the vampire. Though she saved his life and was eternally grateful for her, he just could not stand how the woman treated him.

"Oh, don't sneer like that Mr. Hero. It's such an unbecoming look for you." Almost as if she was summoned just from hearing her name alone, Rachel appeared with a gust of wind. With her were her two servants, Nago and Gii. Jin rolled his eyes, his hopes of not seeing those two again dashed. He found them utterly annoying, especially Gii.

"Ah, speak of the devil! Was wonderin' where you were," Jubei laughed.

"Forgive my tardiness, but Valkenhayn was taking ages to repair these clothes. They were quite terribly worn when we found them," Rachel explained as she walked up to Jin and stretched out her arms. As Jin looked at the clothing in her hands Jubei walked up to him and smiled.

"These clothes were worn by a great hero before you, Hakumen of the Six Heroes," Jubei explained. Jin's eyes brightened up at the sound of his hero's name. Out of all of the Six Heroes, the one that Jin looked up to the most was Hakumen, the owner of the Susano'o Unit, who had unparalleled strength. "He wore these clothes before he put on the Susano'o Unit. Ya remind me of him in his younger years, so I'm passin' these down to you. Take good care of 'em, Jin. It's yours now."

Jin nodded his head as he took the clothing from Rachel's hands, mumbling a thank you to her for bringing them on this day.

"Oh? Was there something that you wanted to say to me, Mr. Hero?" asked Rachel, with a smug expression on her face. "You can always speak up. It would do you well."

"I said thank you, Vampire," Jin scowled.

"That's much better. You're quite welcome. It is the least I could do to make you look at least presentable while you're searching for that swine Terumi," Rachel smiled.

"Yeah, so be grateful!" Gii yelled. Jin's eye twitched at the sound of that annoying rascal's voice.

"Shut it, before you get what's coming to you," Jin warned. He did not want to deal with those... things... while he was about to set out on his journey.

"Now, you know what to do, right?" Jubei asked. He had explained long ago what Jin should be doing while he was looking for Terumi, but just wanted to make sure that Jin still remembered his secondary objective.

Jin nodded his head, reassuring Jubei that he wouldn't forget. Jubei told him about the testing of the 12th Prime Field Device at Ibukido, and the terrible horror that it brought, destroying the land around it. It's not out of the question to assume that the same thing would happen in the other Hierarchical Cities where Cauldrons are being used to smelt a PFD. While Jin searches for Terumi, he promised Jubei that he would destroy the PFDs within the Cauldron and prevent something like Ibukido from ever happening again. It wasn't out of the question to assume that Terumi was associated with the smelting either, so if he destroys the Cauldrons, he would most likely find Terumi. That was all Jin needed to hear.

After bidding goodbye to the two who trained him for this very day, Jin walked off into the night with determined eyes. He silently vowed that he _would_ find Terumi, and that he _would_ get revenge for his brother and sister. He gripped Yukianesa tightly in his hand.

* * *

"This place looks dead," Jin sighed. The only thing that accompanied the young man in the dead of night was the wind, blowing his sleeves around wildly. The ninth Hierarchical City, Akitsu-Ko was a simple looking, but quite large town. This was the nearest Hierarchical City to Jin from the remains of the church. He would find the Cauldron, destroy it, and then get out. His mission was as simple as that.

But... he couldn't shake the lingering feeling that something was going to go wrong. Perhaps it was anxiety from this being his first real "mission" outside of his training. Perhaps just looking at how dark and empty Akitsu-Ko was had him shaken. Jin didn't know himself.

It was 11:00 PM. Though normally everyone would be in their homes sleeping or winding down by now, Jin thought that it was weird that he wasn't seeing at least one single person running through the streets. He continued to take steps through the dull and lifeless town, that unnerving feeling still lingering in the back of his mind. Until, he found what he was looking for.

A looming building much taller than the others in Akitsu-Ko stood out to Jin as his destination. The "Library". They are better known as the "Novis Orbis Librarium", an organization that controls the present world. Most that know of it would call it the "Librarium" or "NOL" for short. The rule of the NOL is based mainly around controlling Ars Magus and policing the Hierarchical Cities. Those who join the NOL are sent into an academy and are trained to become a part of the Praetorian Guard. It wasn't a necessarily bad sounding thing. In fact, what the officers of the NOL are supposed to do is to keep order in the world. However, the entire organization is corrupt. Jin sneered just thinking about them.

"Halt, you're trespassing on NOL ground! Go back now!" Jin snapped out of his thoughts, as he heard the man in the uniform yell at him. With a scowl on his face, Jin summoned Yukianesa from thin air.

An accompanying officer squinted his eyes as he looked at Jin, a confused look on his face. He turned to his friend and then back to Jin, asking, "Hold on a second... that uniform... who are you? You're not in the NOL..."

"NOL?" Jin looked confounded. "Don't you _dare_ associate me with those scum!"

A quick flick of the wrist, and a wave of ice blasted the two officers in front of the gate, knocking them down alongside the doors. A confident smile appeared on Jin's face and stayed until he realized that he had just made a very loud noise using Yukianesa like that and the other officers that are inside of the Library would most likely be approaching. That confident smile turned into slight panic as he ran through the doors, not caring about anything else. There, he was met with multiple guards, each equipped with a different type of weapon. Jin's eyes widened as he counted the guards in the room. Hundreds of NOL officers were surrounding him slowly, letting him know that he had no where to run.

Even if he could though, he wouldn't. The initial shock faded away, and Jin once again grew confidence. "You've made a big mistake," he said as a chilly breeze filled the room.

Four of the guards charged right at him, weapons drawn. Jin stabbed Yukianesa into the ground and caused a large pillar of ice to shoot up beneath their feet, sending them flying into the air. They crashed into the ceiling, several bones broken in their bodies from the impact. More men jumped on Jin this time, each easily dealt with by Yukianesa's ice.

Jin shoved his shoulder into one of the guards, producing a lion's face with ice. The force from the blow sent him barreling into his comrades, knocking out plenty of them instantly.

As more and more approached, Jin danced beautifully with his blade, creating a flurry of swipes that cut down the opposition as they approached him. Jin created a platform of ice and slammed it into more officers running at him, knocking them all to the ground.

Just as Jin was preparing to finish the rest of the guards off, the sound of gunfire filled the room. Instinctively, he slammed Yukianesa into the floor again and created a wall of ice that protected him from the oncoming bullets aimed at his head. As more and more bullets were fired into the wall of ice with the idea to break it with enough force, Jin poured more magical energy into the wall, strengthening it further. He took the time to run around to the side of the wall and fire projectiles made out of ice at the men that were shooting at him, each of the blades collided effortlessly with their targets, stopping the rain of bullets from continuing on any further.

Jin dismissed the ice wall and ran up a nearby staircase, nearly slipping on the marble floor due to the ice beginning to cover it from the sheer presence of Yukianesa alone. He had to get to the Cauldron, but he didn't know where exactly it was. The remaining guards began to join him on the second floor, ordering him to stop where he is so that they can apprehend him. Jin laughed at the notion that they would tell him to stop after he's wiped out most of their forces already, and used Yukianesa to create more ice on the floor for them to slip on.

"You bastard!" one of the guards yelled as Jin approached. He had to take them down too or else they would go off and try to get backup, and that was something that Jin just didn't want to happen. He was tired enough after having to deal with the rest of the NOL officers in the Library.

"Tell me where I can find the Cauldron," Jin demanded, kneeling down in front of the guard on the floor.

Coughing up blood, the guard pointed toward the elevator to Jin's right, saying, "You can find it by going down that elevator..."

His expression unchanging, Jin got up and turned away, raising his arm to command the ice to surround the remaining guards, trapping them in the ice and freezing them.

Jin turned to look over the railing at the guards that were on the lower floor. A disgusting sight of bloodshed met him, unnerving him to his very core. He did this. He did this, and he knows it. He could feel something getting stuck in his throat as he stared at one of the men that had been viciously slashed open by him, blood caking the floor. The pristine marble of the first floor had been stained red.

Three hundred men.

He counted each and every one of them.

He slaughtered, maimed, and killed three hundred men tonight.

Trying to shake the realization of what he had done off, Jin moved toward the elevator to go down to see the Cauldron. He knew that if he continued down this path he would be killing people, but the true gravity of the fact had never hit him until just now. Now that he's finally tasted first blood, he knows full and well what he's doing.

* * *

It was cold. Colder than the part of the Library that was ravaged by him. Even Jin felt himself shivering just a little bit.

A glowing red light shined from below. Moving toward it, Jin prepared himself for anything. He didn't know if anyone was going to be jumping out at him here or not. He wanted to be prepared for the worst possible scenario.

The platform that he was standing on ended at the red light. Looking down below, Jin saw machinery inside of what looked like a gateway into another dimension. This was his target. The Cauldron. He would destroy it and then leave immediately, off to the next Hierarchical City.

He lifted Yukianesa into the air and held it by the sheathe. Ice formed around it to make it shaped like a bow. Pointing the bow of ice down, he aimed for the center of the Cauldron and shot an arrow of ice down into it. The Cauldron is instantly destroyed by the arrow, falling down into the abyss below.

His job now done, Jin turned back to the elevator. Before he could move his legs, a voice stopped him.

"My oh my... that was much more simple than you thought, wasn't it Mr. Hero?"

"Vampire..." Jin grit his teeth as Rachel appeared before him.

"Don't look so sullen Jin, as I have said before it is unbecoming of you. I haven't seen you for months and this is how you greet me?" Rachel asked, feigning being offended that Jin would dare to treat her like this.

"What are you here for, Rachel Alucard?" Jin returned. "You never come see me unless it's something that only benefits you."

"Come now. You are always in my mind. I care for my possessions, after all," Rachel laughed smugly, amused at the disgusted face Jin made. He raised his hand and was about to say something, but decided that it wasn't worth the trouble and rolled his eyes instead. "Northwest. That is where you should be headed. The Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi."

Without another word, Rachel disappeared, leaving Jin alone to ponder why she would want him to go to Kagutsuchi. It couldn't hurt to go there, considering that it was a Hierarchical City, but does Rachel have something specific in mind for him?

Shaking his doubts, Jin proceeded up the elevator, and silently walked past the fallen men in the Library. He moved through the town silently, taking note that the air was starting to feel strange.

With Akitsu-Ko behind him, Jin turned northwest. The 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi waited for him.

* * *

A faint knocking on the door grabbed the attention of the person sitting in the chair at the NOL Headquarters.

"Come in."

The person already knew who was at the door. The Lieutenant.

"Um... Major... I've come to give you a report on Akitsu-Ko..." a small, blonde girl approached the desk. Cold malevolent eyes stared daggers into her.

She was used to that.

"Proceed," she was told. It had been a week since the occurrence. Someone had trespassed the Library and had slaughtered all of the officers there. It was as if Death himself had wandered in. Not only that, but the Cauldron was destroyed as well. A result of that being the weather control of the city going haywire. It now snowed constantly in Akitsu-Ko.

The blonde nodded her head and moved closer to the desk. She put the papers in her arms down onto it and sat down.

"The person described to be the culprit doesn't have a portrait, but we do know some features. He wears an NOL uniform, has blonde hair, and green eyes. He also is in the possession of a katana that utilizes ice powers," the girl explained. "He's now an SS-Class Criminal. Most refer to him as the "Grim Reaper". They also say that he's heading towards Kagutsuchi now as we speak. It's possibly his next target..."

"Kagutsuchi, huh...?" her commanding officer asked.

"Um... Major... what are you going to do...?"

"...I'm going to meet with our dear 'Grim Reaper' and deal with him myself, of course."

Getting up out of the chair, the Major grabbed a sword and left, laughing maniacally.

The Lieutenant simply stared at her commanding officer as the door shut in front of her, baffled at the weird behavior. Then it hit her. A week ago when the names of those who had fallen were sent to all of the heads of the Duodecim...

"...The Major's family was included in that..."


	3. Arrival

"So now he's wearing what I have years ago?"

"Yeah. Gave 'em to him cause he reminds me of ya," Jubei said. "He's actin' just like you did back then. How long's it been since those days?"

"Not long enough, cat."

"Aw c'mon, don't be like that. Haven't you gotten over it after all these years?" Jubei asked.

"This is something that will always remain with me, and you stating that he's acting just like I did only fuels my rage towards the man that is... _was_ Jin Kisaragi more. You said that he is going to Kagutsuchi to destroy the Cauldron, correct? I will meet him there and destroy him instead."

The figure Jubei was talking to disappeared into the forest before Jubei could even say another word. The only thought on his mind right now was getting to Jin and warning him to stay away from the man that he was talking to. If those two were to meet, it would be a battle that he would not be able to win.

* * *

Jin's feet trudged along the ground as he continued his trek to Kagutsuchi. The pathways to the cities were particularly dangerous due to the large amounts of seithr in the air, so he had to be careful. The Hierarchical Cities were all elevated far above the areas with dense amounts of seithr so there could be civilization. Normal human beings couldn't take such a large amount of seithr and would become sick from it.

"So dense..." he muttered, pushing a tree branch out of his way. The forest he was moving through had an especially large amount of Seithr. It felt like even he would become ill from seithr poisoning at this rate. As he walked along the path to Kagutsuchi, he began thinking about everything that happened in Akitsu-Ko.

The Cauldron was certainly destroyed, which was his mission. However, he couldn't shake the thought of himself killing all of those men in the Library. All three hundred of those men that were killed just from him alone. Even though it was a terrible thing that he had done, Jin couldn't help but be amazed at the power that was flowing through his body to make him capable of doing such a thing.

The training with Jubei was rigorous and extensive. There were many days that he would find himself too tired to even stand on his own two feet. Thankfully Jubei was kind enough to let him rest on those days, but not without a lecture on why he should take more care of himself. Jin understood completely. Every time he had gotten injured and every time that he was completely exhausted he had no one to blame but himself for pushing himself that far.

Fireflies started appearing in the forest, illuminating his path for him. Jin smiled faintly, thinking about the days that he would sit with Ragna and Saya outside of the church while they were still children. While they were still innocent, before the attack from Terumi. Thinking about those days only made him angrier at the man, and only served to fuel his determination even more. He would make that bastard pay for everything that he had done to him. With interest.

"Ya look lost, kid," a voice called out. Jin jumped into the air, startled at the sudden sound. With a heavy grip on Yukianesa, his eyes darted around trying to see who was there. He thought that he was completely alone in this forest. No one would ever dare to come down here without at least something protecting them from the seithr.

"Relax. It's only me," out of the bushes in front of him came a cat. Jin sighed in relief. He, of course, knew who this certain cat was. Jubei had come to see him. A confused look appeared on his face. Why had his master come to see him, exactly?

"Master Jubei, what are you doing here...?" Jin asked, releasing Yukianesa, letting it disappear in a bright yellow light.

"Lettin' your guard down at this time of night is only gonna serve to get ya killed, Jin," Jubei scolded him, a stern look on his face. Something told Jin that whatever Jubei was going to tell him would be very serious.

"How did you... find me?" Jin wondered out loud.

Jubei cracked a grin at that and said, "It's not particularly hard to smell ya out when I've been with ya for years now, Mr. SS-Class Criminal."

What Jubei called him struck Jin like a hammer. SS-Class Criminal? He expected the NOL to lay criminal charges on him, and he expected something completely severe, but it still surprises him hearing it.

"Look at ya, though! You've grown quite a bit since I last saw ya. You have that look that tells me that ya can just take on the entire world at this rate. However... this time isn't going to be like the others. As I said ya got that bounty on yer head. And it ain't lookin' pretty. The NOL's been jumpy about you since word came out you were comin' to Kagutsuchi," Jubei said.

A boost of confidence fell over Jin as he smirked and said, "That doesn't necessarily sound like much of a problem. After all, I can just wipe them out like the rest."

Try as the NOL might, Jin didn't think they would ever be able to get him. He was just too powerful for them, as evidenced by the incident at Akitsu-Ko and other Libraries that he came across and destroyed along the way here.

"Well, they got bounty hunters on ya too, so still be careful. But that ain't all... He's here."

"He? Who is he...?" Jin asked.

"There ain't no getting around it. You'll know him when you meet him. Even if your head won't... _it_ will. You got somethin' special lurkin' inside of ya Jin. Just be mindful of it," Jubei warned.

"Ex...cuse me? You're not making any sense, Jubei. What do I have lurking inside?" Jin started getting frustrated again, as he always did when Jubei got cryptic with him.

"I can't tell ya at this moment, but when you eventually run into him... you'll know soon enough. That's all I got to say to ya. Just be careful when you enter Kagutuschi. It ain't that far away," Jubei said, jumping into the bushes. His presence disappeared as if he had never been there before, and Jin continued on his way. Kagutuschi was near.

* * *

It took Jin a while, but he finally arrived in the Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi. He arrived on the platform that the monorail other people would use to get to the other cities would arrive on. Thoughts about what Jubei was talking about littered his mind. He didn't understand what Jubei meant when he said there was something special lurking inside of him. Not only that, but he definitely didn't understand who he was talking about beforehand. The person that he didn't name... the way that Jubei was talking about him, it made him seem like he would be a severe threat to his safety. It couldn't be an NOL officer... so it had to have been a bounty hunter he was talking about.

He didn't know too many of them, but he did know that they worked along with the NOL to, well, hunt for bounties. The NOL would enlist them to go and hunt for wanted criminals. Depending on the "class" of the criminal, they would either want them alive, dead, and sometimes either or. In Jin's case, they want him dead. No ifs ands or buts about it. That's why Jin had to be very careful while he walked through Hierarchical Cities, and had to disguise himself whenever he wanted to sleep. Most of the time he would cast an ars magus to conceal himself while he slept in a place where no one would find him.

Unfortunately for Jin, that would lead to some very severe back pains at certain times due to some locations where he had to sleep. He would never forget the time he had to sleep in a back alley propped up against a wall. It could be his least favorite memory of his adventures easily.

Speaking of sleeping, Jin felt extremely tired. He would have to find a place to rest soon. Walking along the walls of the monorail platform, he quickly found his way out of it and into the actual city itself. He found himself in what looked like a city with an oriental theme to it. Neon lights decorated the many buildings that towered over him, shining their bright light down onto the ground so that passerby could see where they were walking.

This was an issue. He could feel his coming down fast from his fatigue, and he definitely didn't want to sleep somewhere as open as this. He would have to find a place to rest that wasn't so brightly lit. He hugged the wall once more and began to walk around, almost aimlessly. He wanted to go right for the Library, but as much as he wanted to, he had to rest. He wouldn't be able to fight off the NOL officers if they ganged up on him while he was tired, as easily as he's able to take care of them.

It was a lesson that Jubei always taught him. He shouldn't fight while tired. His senses would be dulled, his reactions wouldn't be as fast. It would be easy for someone to take care of him if he was like that. So Jin would prefer to avoid that, and just find some place to sleep. He could take care of the Library the next day, and then be done with this place and move on to the next.

He noticed a slip of paper on the wall while he was walking, and took a stop to look at it. It was a wanted poster. A crude drawing of Jin that didn't look like him at all, and served to offend the man himself, was plastered on it with writing underneath that said "Wanted Criminal 'The Grim Reaper'".

"How could they possibly think this is a good depiction of m- that guy...?" Jin asked, catching himself before he said "me" out loud. He wouldn't want to cause trouble because of something completely stupid like that.

"You."

It felt as though everything in the world at that moment froze as Jin heard a young, childlike voice behind him. He noticed that it looked as though none of the civilians were walking around anymore. He was completely alone. Well, alone with the person that's behind him, that is.

Jin slowly turned around to see a young, blonde child wearing purple. Even further behind the child was a machine that was hunched over. There's no doubt that the machine was connected to the kid that was in front of him right now.

"Who are you?" Jin asked.

"I am a bounty hunter. Carl Clover," the boy introduced himself, bowing while taking his hat off. Jin knew immediately why the kid was here in front of him at this very moment.

"I suppose you're here for me, then."

Jin didn't have to worry about people spotting him anymore since no one was around. This meant that he would be able to go all out against this kid. It wasn't what he wanted, sure, but he supposed that he would have to work for his hard earned sleep after all. He grabbed Yukianesa and pointed it at the child.

"Exactly. You have a lot of money on your head, you know," the boy, Carl, said.

"Well, see if you can take me then, kid," Jin taunted, quickly pushing his arm forward to blast Carl with solid ice, sending the boy flying away.

Carl lifted his arm, a machine-like structure popping out from behind the cape he was wearing. Carl pushed it into the ground and used it to catch himself before he hit one of the buildings behind him. As he got up he gasped as Jin appeared right in front of him and brought down Yukianesa. Carl leaped back, extending his arm once more. This time a geeen flag tied to a golden metal part shot out, taking Jin by surprise. Hit right in the stomach, Jin hunched over in pain, stabbing Yukianesa into the ground to keep him from sliding back.

"God damn... that hurt, kid," Jin snarled, standing back on his feet. He took Yukianesa out of the ground and pointed it at Carl, waiting for his next move. The boy smirked and held out an open hand.

"Ada, it's time!" he exclaimed. Out of the corner of Jin's eye, he noticed the lifeless doll that was standing by Carl began to twitch. Immediately Jin connected the dots. The boy was a puppet master. He would be able to control the doll to his will using ars magus.

This only served to cause Jin more problems. Now he had to worry about virtually two opponents while still tired from his journey to even get to Kagutsuchi. This wasn't something that he wanted to be dealing with at the moment, and his annoyance showed as he slashed Yukianesa through the air, creating a horizontal wave of ice, launching it towards both the boy and the doll.

Carl yelped at the sight of the attack, knowing that something like that would instantly behead him, if not worse. While he could not save his doll, Carl himself ducked underneath of the ice wave, silently praying that Ada did not take that much damage from the attack.

A satisfied smile spread across Jin's face as he began to move toward Carl, ready to attack him while he was still coming back from dodging the previous attack.

"You're wide open!" Jin yelled out as he once again slashed at Carl with his blade. Carl didn't need to dodge. Jin's blade stopped midair, much to his surprise. His eyes darted around, looking for the culprit, and quickly found the reason the blade stopped. The doll had grabbed the katana right before it hit Carl. The Grim Reaper attempted to pull Yukianesa out of the doll's grasp, but its grip was much too tight. Not even the strongest man alive would be able to pry Yukianesa from it's killer grip.

It was at this time that Jin was finally able to get a close up of what the doll looked like. The doll certainly looked like it was a doll, but there was just something about it that was uncanny. It was as if there was actual, real life inside of it, and it wasn't just some mechanical puppet. Jin could feel the gaze from the eyes of Ada staring menacingly into his. The hostility from it was enough to make Jin shiver.

"And now for the finishing blow!" Carl announced, snapping Jin back to reality. The doll lifted up its free hand and pulled it back. Jin knew that if he were to take one of these punches in this condition he would most likely be through. He was a strong, very durable man, but he was not invincible. He could only imagine the speed that the doll could move in to be able to grab Yukianesa in mid-swing. If he were hit by something like that at full force, he doubted that he would be able to stay conscious.

"No you don't!" Jin shouted, giving up on getting Yukianesa out of its grip. As he let go of the katana he used the hand that was previously on it to grab onto Ada itself. "Freeze!"

Three spears of ice shot up from the ground underneath of the doll, all aimed for the arm that it would use to attack him. They easily pierced through the machine, effectively immobilizing the arm. Jin knew that this was his time to act. While he didn't have Yukianesa on him because it was still in the hands of the doll, he would still be able to fight against Carl like this. After all, what could a child like him that needed to depend on the doll do to someone that has had experience fighting for years now?

Jin swept a leg across the ground, taking Carl by surprise. The boy was swung off his feet, falling down onto the ground. Jin proceeded with his attack, aiming a fist at Carl's head. Rolling out of the way just in time, Carl sprung to his feet and pulled out a giant machine that looked more like it was a figurine of a man jousting on a horse than it was a weapon.

He swung it down on Jin, aiming right for his head. He didn't have to care about him being alive since he was wanted dead. If he had to crush his head with it, he would.

Jin barely dodged the attack, watching in awe as it made a small impact crater as it hit the ground. He surely would have died if that hit him. Quickly, before Carl could try anything again, Jin grabbed the boy's arm, lifting him up into the air and flipping him over.

"What did you say about it being over?" Jin asked confidently. Before he could do anything else to the kid, he felt something rip deep into his skin.

He forgot about the doll.

How could he have forgotten about the god damn doll.

Jin could feel his consciousness fading away as he turned around to see what appeared to be the long, sharp claws of the machine tearing into his back. He didn't realize that the doll broke free from the ice, but decided that it was poor judgement on his part to just aim for its arm. He looked back at the boy, who was knocked out from the slam into the ground that Jin gave him. Jin smiled foolishly.

"At least... it's... a tie..." were his last words before collapsing on the ground.

"Oh my god... I have to get them both to the clinic as fast as I can..." he could faintly hear a voice as his eyes shut.

And he lost consciousness.

* * *

Arrival. Kagutsuchi was in clear sight. The vessel could not have came here fast enough.

"Be safe," the conductor warned.

The person the warning was directed to didn't need to hear that. It would be a simple task. Come into Kagutsuchi, find the Grim Reaper, and kill him. Then it would all be over.

Revenge would be theirs.

"I'm coming for you, Grim Reaper. Don't you dare die... because I'm going to kill you myself."

They adjusted their outfit - something they hadn't worn in years - and proceeded into the city.


	4. The Cathedral

A field that he could swear he has never seen before lied in front of him.

An infinite number of blades of grass covered the entire ground. The only thing above him was a night sky filled with stars, with the moon looming overhead.

He could tell that he was dreaming, but it felt like it wasn't a dream at all.

Rather, a memory.

A memory of a distant time. Maybe a time that didn't exist, yet has the potential to.

There was nothing. Nothing but a broken man laying on the ground. His bones were all snapped. His body would not move, even if he commanded it to. Blood soiled the ground beneath him. His blood.

Multiple gashes covered his body, like he had been in a fight beforehand.

However, there were no traces of anyone but himself in the field.

A silent swear to the moon. The crushing moon that loomed over him, threatening to destroy him.

He hated the moon.

Ever since he was a child, he could recall hatred of it.

He found the strength to finally move his arm, and with that strength he did not get up off of the ground, but rather used it to grasp at the moon.

In his eyes, it appeared as though his hand was encompassing that hated object in the sky, crushing it underneath his grip.

A gust of wind strong enough to knock someone off of their feet. Someone else had arrived at the field.

"Mr. Hero... how would you like to become a real hero?"

* * *

Slowly, Jin's eyes opened to be greeted with an intensely bright light. He looked down at his body to see it covered in bandages. Attempting to move his body made a great pain shoot up his back, only serving to anger Jin. Memories of yesterday instantly flooded his mind, reminding him of his failure to defeat that kid that attacked him, Carl Clover.

"Dammit..." Jin cursed. He had no idea where he was, but he quickly connected the dots and ruled out this place being an NOL Library. The scenery looked nothing like it. He figured that he was in a house in the same area as he fought Carl, considering the oriental look.

"Oh, you're awake. Are you okay...?"

Jin's head jolted to the left where he heard the voice come from, making more pain shoot up his body. Gracefully swearing afterwards, his eyes fell on a woman sitting on a chair a few feet away from the bed. A concerned expression was on her face as she pushed her glasses up. She wore a red dress that revealed a lot of her chest. Jin supposed that this person lived here.

"Well, I suppose that means that you're fine, at least," the woman said, crossing her legs and letting out a sigh of relief. "My name is Litchi Faye Ling. This is my clinic. I found you and Carl outside on the floor and treated the both of you. I don't know what happened, but thankfully the both of you are alright. Carl recovered at a much faster rate than you due to his injuries being less severe, so he left early. His doll was broken... he said something about getting it repaired."

Jin did nothing but stare at the woman, taking everything in. Litchi waited a moment before continuing on, giving Jin a chance to digest what she told him.

"It's so bizarre... You've recovered this much even though your wounds were much more severe than his. I don't know what's going on to make it that way, but you should be thankful. I think without that, you would have died from blood loss," Litchi informed.

"...Thank you."

Barely spoken, like a murmur, Jin thanked the woman for taking care of him while he was injured. It wasn't really his style, but he wanted to at least show thanks of some kind for her nearly saving his life.

"It's no trouble. This is my job after all," Litchi smiled at the man. He realized at that moment that she had no idea who he was. No clue that he was the Grim Reaper, the SS-Class Criminal with a massive bounty on his head. It was because of this that he had to get out of this place as fast as he could.

After stretching his body out with a little difficulty, he took a step out of the bed he was resting in and stood up. The sudden movement caused some pain, but it wasn't as severe as when he got up a while ago.

"I'm going," Jin announced, slowly removing his bandages. Litchi didn't respond. She just stood up and walked away, into another room.

Jin walked out of the clinic and into the streets of Kagutsuchi once more. It was broad daylight now, rather than being night. It shouldn't prove to be that much of a problem for him, but he still decided that he should take things carefully and use as many back roads as possible.

"The Major has to be around here somewhere..."

Jin jumped back into a nearby alleyway as soon as he heard the voice call out. He let out a few gruff swears about how Kagutuschi just had to be bumbling with people when he was there as he peeked out to look for whoever was speaking.

His eyes eventually fell onto a short girl wearing blue. She adjusted her blue beret and sighed. It seemed as though she was looking for someone, to no avail. Something else was catching Jin's eye, however.

This girl...

"...Sa...ya...?"

Jin had a hopeful look in his eyes as he observed the girl. This girl had a very glaring similarity to his younger sister, Saya. All of a sudden he could feel the memories from the night that he was separated from her coming back to him.

The fire, the church, the death of their caretaker and Saya herself... Even the kidnapping of Ragna.

The man behind it all. Yuki Terumi.

Anger flooded Jin's mind as he continuously repeated to himself that he would make Terumi pay in his mind. This girl wasn't Saya. There was no possible way. She died in that fire. He knew it in his heart. It was nothing that she could have survived.

He watched her pass by, continuing her search for whoever she was looking for. He never caught a name other than her referring to the person as "Major".

That must mean that she's a part of the NOL. Perhaps she's here with her commanding officer on the lookout for him. If that was the case, then he really couldn't get spotted by her. Getting seen by a vigilante is one thing, but getting seen by an NOL officer and having them come to attack him...

Jin shook his head. This time he wasn't tired. Rather, he was feeling mysteriously filled with energy. He didn't know why, but there was something inside of him that was invigorating him.

He would be able to take them all on if he had to. He would rather avoid doing such a thing, but that was his life. He would have to go and kill NOL officers if he wanted to complete his goal of taking down all of the Cauldrons, and Terumi with it. Like he said: if he destroyed the Cauldrons, no doubt he would find Yuki Terumi.

Emerging from the alleyway, Jin continued on. Looking up in the sky, he could see the Library in the distance. He was getting close to his target, but he didn't know just how long it would take for him to get there.

Kagutsuchi was a big placed compared to the other areas that he's been, like Akitsu-Ko. He could easily get lost in here if he didn't have that landmark to tell him where he was, and how far away from the Library he was taking himself.

He thanked the NOL for making it easy to see as he continued on his walk, making sure to be extra careful of anything or anyone that might be passing by.

Jin felt a gust of wind blow in his direction. An intense force that could blow anyone away.

"What the hell do you want with me, Vampire?" Jin rolled his eyes as the wind ceased to reveal Rachel Alucard, along with an elderly man in a suit. This was her butler, Valkenhayn R. Hellsing. He was another one of the Six Heroes that fought against the Black Beast alongside Jubei in the Dark War. Now he served as Rachel's butler, and in Jin's eyes, her personal lapdog.

"That is no way to speak to Madam Rachel. Mind your tongue, you curr," Valkenhayn growled. The two never truly got along with one another. Their personalities clashed every time they saw one another.

"Look at you. Running around Kagutsuchi like a lost puppy. Suiting, I'd think," Rachel teased, a smug grin on her face. The woman enjoyed berating Jin to the point where he didn't know if she got a sick enjoyment out of it or not.

"What are you doing here?" Jin asked cautiously. He knew Rachel meant well, but he always felt like he had to be on guard when dealing with her. She did the most random things on a whim. He recalls one time where she electrocuted him to wake him up from a nap while training with Jubei. Her lighting is nothing he wanted to experience again.

"I am merely here to help guide this lost cretin that stands in front of me, and possibly berate him for letting his guard fall to the point where he would be attacked by a vigilante easily," Rachel explained.

"Oh?" Jin rose a brow. "That pisses me off, you know. I was tired from all that walking to get to a place you _insisted_ I go to, and couldn't fight him properly. You wanna put yourself in my shoes and experience that? I don't think so."

"All the more reason to call you an imbecile. Know your place, Mr. Hero. I _insisted_ that you come here not to watch you fail terribly at your job, but rather for your own good," Rachel returned.

"You would do best to listen to Madam Rachel, Jin," Valkenhayn warned.

Jin decided to ignore the comment from Valkenhayn and returned with, "Again with people talking cryptically to me... First Jubei, and now you. I don't need this right now, Vampire. I have to get to the Library right now, and if you don't mind, I'd like to get there before sunset."

Jin only took one step before Rachel interrupted him with something even more cryptic.

"If you go as you are now, he will kill you. There are no questions about that," Rachel warned.

Jin stopped in his tracks.

"Who exactly is this 'he'...?" Jin asked. "The same 'he' that Jubei was talking about?"

Rachel does not answer. Instead, she changes the topic to something else entirely.

"The Library is just up ahead. If you feel as though you are prepared to face him... you may go. But be warned. If you go with any sense of hesitation... it will be your end," Rachel says gravely.

"...You're not exactly leaving me much of a choice here. If I stay here any longer sooner or later the vigilantes will come for me, even the NOL officers that are patrolling around. They'll find out where I'm hiding to prepare myself to face whoever... _this_ is... and I don't think even I would be able to take every one of them on at once. Jubei said that everyone and their mother is out here to come for me," Jin explained his situation.

Rachel said nothing. Only a mere nod of her head, and the gusts of wind came once more to take her away.

Steeling himself for what lied ahead, Jin continued on the path to the Library. He had a feeling that he wasn't necessarily going to enjoy what happened next.

* * *

It was nightfall by the time Jin arrived at the gates. As much as he would have liked to come here earlier, the path was much longer than he anticipated, making the walk that much more time consuming.

However, something was wrong.

Jin quickly took note of the absence of NOL officers. No one left to guard the gates from him just didn't seem right to the man.

"What's going on...?" He asked himself as he carefully looked around, wondering if there were any surprise traps that he would have to work his way around.

There was nothing.

Nothing at all.

He could not detect even a single sign of life.

Jin soon realized the lack of NOL officers on his way to the Library to begin with, in his entire journey through Kagutsuchi. The only person that he encountered was that girl looking for her commanding officer, and no one else.

He thought that they would be holed up in the Library just waiting for him, much like the guards in Akitsu-Ko, but the main difference between there and here was the fact that there were still guards outside of the Library that checked him before he came in.

Here, there were no guards. No one at all. It wouldn't be very smart to just hole everyone up inside of the Library to wait for him leaving no one outside, because they wouldn't be able to know easily whether or not he would be on his way so they would prepare.

It would be suicide for them. Jin would take them by surprise and kill all of the officers in the building. He could do it with ease, and the NOL would know firsthand about that.

Aside from that, there was a threatening presence that Jin could feel from a mile away as he approached, and it only grew stronger as he came closer to the Library. There was someone waiting for him inside.

His senses were screaming at him that he should run away. He shouldn't be here. Not at all.

He would die.

He would certainly die.

He would die a gruesome death if he continued on.

Still, Jin swallowed those feelings and pushed open the gates hesitantly.

There was no one inside of the Library. The marble halls were completely empty. As he took a step inside, the door closed behind him. While this was the standard for every Library, there was something about this that startled him. Maybe it was the emptiness of the Library. Maybe it was the presence that was waiting for him deep inside.

He could feel it just by being in here, however.

This is a land of death, and he only sealed his fate by walking in here.

Footsteps.

Jin grabbed Yukianesa immediately, and without hesitation he drew the blade.

He frantically questioned whether or not this was the person that both Jubei and Rachel warned him about. Something inside of him was boiling. His body felt as if he fell into magma.

The warning signs stopped.

The footsteps did not belong to a "him". Rather, they belonged to a "her".

The presence was not getting closer as the woman proceeded down the steps and faced Jin.

This person was entirely different.

A lone NOL officer that must have been waiting a very long time for him to get here.

"The Grim Reaper," she said breathlessly.

Jin kept his guard up as he laughed off all of the dread that he was feeling as he walked in. "So. You're the one that they sent to come and kill me? You alone?"

"No. I am here because of my own choices. You are Jin, the SS-Class Criminal. The Grim Reaper. I am here to kill you myself," the woman spoke. "I've heard of your exploits all over the world, Jin. Destroying multiple NOL Librariums, killing multiple soldiers... I have to say that your most impressive feat was killing those three hundred soldiers in Akitsu-Ko. Your efforts there were surely nothing short of spectacular. Did you know how many families you destroyed while you were there?"

It felt as though Jin was slammed on the head with that last statement.

"...I suppose your family was included in that body count?" Jin asked. The woman responded with a glare. That told Jin all that he needed to. If it were anyone else, that glare could probably have killed them right on the spot. The hatred and malice in that expression knew no bounds.

"You have a bounty on your head that could purchase a small country," the woman continued on. "You're known as one of the strongest men alive. The NOL has essentially complete control of the world yet they are terrified of you."

"I could care less about that. The thing I'm more concerned about is who you are," Jin said, pointing his katana at the woman. She took more steps toward him, and he got a clear view of her.

She wore beige clothing that covered her entire body, leaving nothing to show. A hat sat atop her head, which unnervingly enough... had an eye that was open and staring at Jin. Her long, red hair fell down her back, swaying as she continued her walk to Jin.

She was nothing short of beautiful. If the circumstances were different, Jin could imagine himself falling for her easily. But right now, that was the furthest thing from his mind. This was his enemy, and he wouldn't let feelings like those get in the way of him taking care of her.

"I am Major Tsubaki Yayoi. Part of the Wings of Justice," she introduced herself.

The Wings of Justice... Jin heard of that name before. They were also known as the Zero Squadron. Most referred to them as the NOL's janitors, killing traitors to the NOL and serving their justice onto them. The concept disgusted Jin.

"The Wings of Justice... do you know anything about what they do?" Jin asked.

"I would not be here otherwise," she answered. "I live a just life. As a member of the Duodecim, I must serve the Imperator in any way that I can. I can't help but find it humorous that you're wearing an NOL uniform. It's almost as if you had betrayed the NOL and are working against them now. But we both know that isn't the case. I don't know where you stole that outfit, but looking at you wearing it disgusts me."

"Have you even seen this Imperator? How can you pledge loyalty to someone that you haven't even seen?" Jin questioned.

"I fight for justice, and serving my duty and delivering justice onto disgusting criminals such as you is just that. Justice." Tsubaki returned.

Jin sneered. This way of thinking pissed him off more than anything. Blind justice disgusted him.

"You say that you fight for justice, but tell me... is what you're fighting for truly just? Do you know what the NOL even does, Major Yayoi?" Jin responded, not bothering to hide his growing anger.

"Yes. They keep order in the world and stop people such as you from threatening that order. Order is a necessity in this world. It can only be maintained when those who impose it have absolute power. The peace that this world enjoys is provided by the Imperator himself. Even in the NOL itself, this is the case," Tsubaki explained.

"Bullshit! You honestly believe that absolute power will instill order upon the world? That's laughable! I've heard enough. I'll take that so called 'justice' and 'order' that you're so fond about and show you why it's nothing but a farce!" Jin yelled, leaping toward Tsubaki.

Jin knew that he would be able to defeat her. No one this blind would be able to lay a finger on him.

"You are under arrest for the murders of multiple NOL soldiers, and the destruction of multiple NOL Librariums! I, Major Tsubaki Yayoi, shall cast righteous justice down upon you!" Tsubaki cried out, meeting Yukianesa with her own blade.

The two snarled at each other as they prepared for the long, long battle ahead of them.


End file.
